Rotary furnace or fire-box.



A, SMALLWOOD. ROTARY FURNACE 0R FIRE BOX.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 25, 1911. 1,079, 1 51 Patented Nov. 18, 1913.

2 8KBETB-SHEET 1.

%m x r A. SMALLWOOD.

ROTARY FURNACE OR FIRE BOX.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 25, 1911.

Patented Nov. 18, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ALFRED SMALLWOOD, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

ROTARY FURNACE OR FIRE-BOX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 18, 1913.

Application filed September 25. 15 311. Serial No. 651,169.

T0 (t7? whom it may concern Be it known that I, Armin-1n Sunmwoon, a subject of the Kingdom of (ireat Britain,

residing at 42 Ilargrave Park, Highgatc,

London, N., in the county of liliddlesex, l lngland, metallurgist, have invented a certain new and useful Improved Rotary Furnace or Fire-Box, of which the following is a specification.

This invention comprises a new or nuproved rotary furnace or firebox having a very varied application in the yarious plant or apparatus in which it is desired to apply or generate heat.

The present improvements have for their purpose to provide for a more perfect and vigorous ccn'ibustion of the fuel whereby the working capabilities of the furnace are materially increased and a more rapid genera tion of heat insured than has heretofore been possible,

According to this invention a firebox having its wall comprised of firebrick or like heat conserving material and adapted to contain the fire within its center or main interior, is constructed with interspaces in itswall; by providing such inter-spaces the firebrick or like material is enabled to attain and maintain an incandescent heat in a particularly eflicient and satisfactory manner, and the fuel within the main interior, carried or surrounded by the incandescent wall, is thus maintained within a zone of extremely high heat intensity, the result of which is that an energetic and complete calorification is insured, in addition to which the production of clinker is substantially prevented.

By providing inter-spaces in the walls of such a firebox and by adapting said interspaces to communicate with or open into the center or main interior of the firebox, air, steam, fuel or the like may be introduced into said interior. Thus in the case of solid fuel, air, steam or both may be introduced at a position underneath the fuel, and the fluid" thereby caused to continuously enter or pass throu h the fuel notwithstanding the rotation o? the firebox, Or in the case of liquid fuel the fuel may be admitted by channel interspaces and in passing through sameit is gasified for subsequent combustion in the main fire chamber. Air may be admitted by the same or different interspaces and may mix with liquid or gaseous fuel admitted as aforesaid.

The interspaces may be provided in the walls of the firebox by arranging the heat conserving lining in restricted contact with an outer metallic casing, in instances in which it is desired to prevent loss of heat by conduction. In said interspaces radiators may be employed and adapted to extract a part of the heat from the lining to utilize it for purposes such as steam generation.

\Vhcrc the furnace is not used for steam generation or wherever desirable, air, steam or the like may be circulated in relation to the metal casing to prevent over-heating of the latter, said air being afterward used if desired for purposes of combustion within tho firebox.

In order that this invention may be clearly understood and more readily carried into practice, reference may be had to the appended explanatory two sheets of drawings illustrating an application of the invention, and upon which Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a boiler einl'iodying a furnace according to the invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional end elevation to an enlarged scale of a portion of the lining of the firebox shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the lining shown in Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrow Z. Fig. l is a front elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

In a convenient embodiment of the invention such as illustrated by the drawings, the fuel is combusted within the center or main interior 1 of the cylindrical fire-box 1 conveniently disposed within the flue 2 of theboiler 3, and the said firebox 1 is lined with heat conserving material as for instance in the form of fire bricks 4, the said heat conserving material being constructcd with inter-spaces 5 and 16 and having for its purpose to attain and maintain an incandescent heat by which the desired process of combustion within the fire-box is insured. By providing the said incandescent lining of heat conserving material and by continuously or intermittently rotating the cylindrical firebox, the burning fuel contained therein is enabled to continuously change its position and expose a fresh surface to the air, steam or other media which is intrm duced into the chamber. The incandescent fuel at the top ofthe fire is continuously precipitated into contact with the heat conserving lining by which means the incandescent character of the latter is attained and maintained and when fresh fuel is thrown in, the incandescent fuel being precipitated upon the top of such fresh fuel, the latter is thereby placed in a position in which it has incandescent media both above and below it and it is thus enabled to readily ignite after which it is efficiently mixed with the incandescent fuel previously in the fire box, all. these processes accruing by virtue of the rotary movement which the latter receives. In some instances of stoking however, the entire contents of the fire-box may be burned out, the ashes removed and fresh fuel intro duced which immediately ignites upon coming into contact with the incandescent lining. By reason of the completeness of combustion, the ashes so removed are reduced essentially to the uncombustible products of the fuel, there being practically no burnablc matter whatever remaining after the fuel has been combusted within the firebox.

In order to provide for the admission or injection of air, steam or other media neces sary to the process of combustion, longitudinal channel interspaces or inlets 5 are provided at points all around the circumfen ence of the heat conserving lining, the said channels 5 taking the form of spaces between the bricks 4, which spaces are lined on either side by plates or strips f of metal 6. The channel interspaces 5 formed by the plates or metal members are conveniently closed at their rear extremities and at their front extremities they are closed throughout the time during which they traverse the up per part of the boiler flue, as for instance by a stationary segmental plate 7 or closure member, while at the lower part of the flue the said plate or closure is adapted to permit of air, steam or other media being forced into the channels and ultimately distributed into and through the burning fuel within the fire-box. Any suitable arrangement of injector may be provided for introducing the air, steam, or both into the said channels, conveniently the said injector may take tlie form of a stationary tube 8 having a series of ets 8 arranged at the correspond mg points which the channels would occupy if the firebox were stationary. The jets 8 may be secured at their extremities to the stationary plate 7, the latter being perforated in such a manner that the jets are enabled to inject horizontally at a series of points around the lower part of the circumference of the firebox. The channels 5 which are horizontally in alinement with the jets are broadened or enlarged to a bellshape 5 at their front extremities so that throughout the movement of the firebox the injected steam or air or both is under all circumstances being introduced in such a manner that it is caused to pass into those 2. channels which are at the bottom and thus through the burning fuel. it will be understood that the admission channels 5 being arranged throughout the entire circumference of, the firebox, permit of a constant ingress of the air, steam etc., successively entering the channels 5 and being thus introduced underneath the fuel, notwithstanding the rotary displacement of the firebox, while during the time throughout which such channels traverse the upper part of the boiler flue, air, steam etc, may be purposely excluded from them by the stationary plate 7 the intention being preferably to admit air steam and the like only at such points as to cause it to pass through the fuel.

In view of the more rapid and complete combustion which is attained by use of the hereinbefore described firebox, the cylindrical chamber may be of length shorter than that of the usual fire bars, and the fire bridge 9 is disposed immediately at the rear of the cylindrical chamber in order to confine the fuel, thereby preventing its falling out at the rear extremity of the fire-box. To this end the bridge may have an overhanging front part 10 which extends into the rear end portion of the shell 11 of the firebox.

The firebox may comprise an external metallic casing in which the aforesaid lining of heat conserving material is installed, and the said metal casing may conveniently be practically in contact with the boiler flue tube throughout its entire circumference. By this arrangement the comparatively low temperature of the water within the boiler prevents fusion of the metal casing, in addition to which a part of the heat maintained by the incandescent lining is distributed by radiation, and thereby enabled to assist in the processofv evaporation. metallic casing is constituted of quadrantal members 12 coupled by bolts 13, the bricks being placed in position from the extremities of the casing and being retained therein by wedge shaped, semi-circular or other suitable project-ions 14 integrated with the quadrants 12. To prevent ashes and the like from cloggin the bell shaped extremities of the channe s the bricks are provided on their inner surface with a shelf which maintains the narrow character of the outlets as shown in Fig. 3. i

The heat conservinglinin may if desired have a restricted contact with the metallic casing of the firebox as for instance by providing interspaces 16 toithereby prevent a material reduction of its temperature by the water within the boiler, and the channel interspaces 5 by which air or other media is admitted to the firebox may be tapered in an inward direction in the form of jets so that should any ashes of fuel enter them it will fall out by gravity upon the aperture or apertures in question being rotated to a position above the fire.

Conveniently the To better enable the metallic casing to extract heat from the incandescent lining and radiate the same to the boiler flue thereby preventin I detrimental overheating of the lining, ra iators 15 may be incorporated and conveniently installed in dead spaces 16 formed by the restricted contact of the lining, the dead spaces precluding circulation of air or combustion products and thus effectually preventing oxidation of the metal radiators; for convenience of manufacture the radiators may form an integral part of the casing.

In some cases the metal plates disposed between the fire bricks and which form jets or apertures 5 may project slightly into the fire box.

The external casin of the fire box may be mounted upon anti-friction bearings within the flue of the boiler and may be rotated by any suitable means, conveniently at any one of three different speeds to meet the various conditions of firing. As a suitable means of rotating the fire box, the same steam may be utilized as is ultimately introduced for combustion, and for this purpose a series of pockets may be disposed circumferentially around the fire box to thereby permit of the rotation of the latter after the manner of a turbine.

Suitable means for rotating the fire-box at different speeds may comprise a trans verse driving shaft 18 which is adapted to rotate in bearings 19 carried by suitable brackets 20 and which has three or other suitable number of belt pulleys 24 mounted upon it, the brackets 20 being conveniently supported upon a frame 21 clipped, bolted or otherwise secured to the boiler front. A worm 22 may be keyed to the transverse shaft and arranged to gear with and drive a worm wheel 23 suitably secured to the outer extremity of the fire box. It will be obvious that by merely moving the belt on to the pulleys of different diameters, the speed of rotation of the fire box will be correspondingly varied.

At the front of the fire box, two independent openings 25, 26 controlled by doors 1: may be employed, .one at the top admitting of fresh fuel being introduced when incandescent fuel is already in the fire box, and the other at the bottom ermitting of the ready removal of the aslies or residue in cases in which the entire contents of the fire box have been burned out.

While the invention is of particular advantage for use with solid fuel, it is also particularly applicable in connection with liquid or gaseous fuel, the latter being introduced at any suitable point at or near the front extremity of the fire box by means of a spray or suitable burner and being combusted with the air, steam or the like admitted as previously described, the combustion of the liquid fuel readily having the effect of incandescing the heat conserving lining, which latter augments the rocess of combustion in the manner as a credescribed with reference to solid fuel.

The liquid fuel may be introduced through the pipe 8, or in any other approved manner.

Whatl claim is:

l. A combustion apparatus comprising in combination, a rotary firebox structure having an imperforale periphery and provided with longitudinally disposed channels opening substantially throughout their length to the interior of the firebox and provided with endwise opening ingress portions, and means for supplying a combustion agent to the interior of said firebox through successive endwise ingress portions and said interiorly opening channels during the rotation of said firebox structure, and means to rotate said firebox structure.

2. A combustion apparatus comprising in combination, a rotary firebox structure having an imperforate periphery and provided wilgh longitudinally disposed channels opening substantially throughout their length to the interior of the firebox and rovided with endwise opening ingress portions enlarged with respect to the cross-section of the channel, and means for supplying a combustion agent to the interior of said firebox through successive enlarged ingress portions and said interiorly opening channels during the rotation of said firebox structure, and means to rotate said firebox structure.

3. A combustion apparatus comprising in combination, a rotary firebox structure having an imperforate periphery and provided with longitudinally disposed channels opening substantially throughout their length to the interior of the box, the transverse width of the radially innermost portions of the channels being reduced with respect to the transverse width of the radially outermost portions of the channels, said channels having endwisc opening ingress portions, and means for supplying a combustion agent to successive ingress portions during the rotation of said firebox structure, and means to rotate said firebox structure.

4. A combustion apparatus comprising in combination, a firebox structure having an imperforate periphery and provided with .longitudinally disposed "channels opening substantially throughout their length to the interior of the firebox and provided with endwise opening ingress portions, and means for supplying a combustion agent to successive ingress portions during the rotation of said firebox structure, and means to rot-ate said firebox structure.

A combustion apparatus comprising in combination, a rotary firebox structure having an imperforate periphery and provided with longitudinally disposed channels opening substantiall throughout their 'lengthto the interior of t e firebox, theradially outermost portions of the channels being formed of metal and the radially innermost ortions of the channels being formed of a re ractory material, said channels having endwise opening ingress portions, and means for supplying a combustion agent to successive ingress portions thereof during the rotation of said firebox structure, and means to rotate said firebox structure.

6. A combustion apparatus comprising in combination, a rotary firebox structure having an imperforate periphery and provided with longitudinally disposed channels opening substantially throughout their length to the interior of the box, the radially outermost portions of the channels being formed of metal and the radially innermost portions being formed of a refractory material, said metal portions having means for holding the refractory portions in place, said channels having endwise opening ingress portions, and means for supplying a combustion agent to successive ingress portions during the rotation of said firebox structure, and means to rotate said firebox structure.

7. A combustion apparatus comprising in combination, a rotary firebox structure having an imperforate periphery and provided with longitudinally disposed channels opening to the interior of said box, said channels being closed against ingress of the contents thereof radially outwardly and having endwise opening ingress and egress portions, a fire-bridge closing those egress portions which are lowermost, means closing all of the ingress portions except those which are lowermost, and fixed means for supplying a combustion agent to the successively lowermost ingress portions during the rotation of said firebox structure,- and means to rotate said firebox structure.

8. A combustion apparatus comprising in combination, a rotary firebox structure composed of an outer imperforate metallic shell,

and longitudinally disposed bars of refrac-' tory material lining said shell and relatively closely spaced with respect to each other to form longitudinal channels opening radially to the interior of said box and forming endwise opening ingress and egress portions, means for closing certain of the ingress por tions, and means for supplying a combustion agent to those ingress portions not closed by said first-named means during the rotation of said firebox structure, and means to rotate said firebox structure.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

ALFRED SMALLWOOD. Witnesses:

ARTHUR BROWN, Horus BROWN. 

